Internet highlights – f/c 22nd June 2025
5 07 2025Comments : Leave a Comment »
Categories : The Best of the Internet
We Solve Murders – by Richard Osman
5 07 2025I really enjoy the Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Osman, so when he wrote a book that wasn’t in that series, I was interested to see if it was as good – and I do think it was!
So the basic premise is that Amy is a close protection officer, currently looking after a world famous author Rosie on her private island, and Amy’s father-in-law Steve is a retired cop, living in the New Forest. But then various people who are trying to get other people killed get involved, there are influencers, money smugglers, all sorts of things.
And I think this is the only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars (I would have given it 4.5 if that was an option on goodreads) – there are a lot of fringe/secondary characters, and I don’t know if it was that they weren’t given enough intro to bed them into my brain, or if there were just one or two too many of them, but I did have to keep trying to remember who some of them were during the first half, and one of them even later on I was still struggling to place. But I don’t want to be too negative, that really was the only negative for me.
I think Richard Osman’s greatest strength is his characters, and their little eccentricities which really endear them to you. I particularly loved Steve and Rosie this time around, I related to Steve a lot in his desire to potter about somewhere he knows – and Rosie was just so extreme and extravagant in so many ways! The contrast between them was a lot of fun.
What was also enjoyable for me were the bits set in the New Forest, I grew up just outside the national park, and so it was fun to hear references to different places I knew!
As I often do, here are some of my favourite one liners
- “Jeff looks over at Tony, ‘No offence.’
‘I never take offence,’ says Tony. ‘Saved me a lot of time over the years.'” - “Trouble [the cat] never stopped to ask [what flavour his dinner was]; he just loved food that he hadn’t had to catch or scavenge for himself.”
- “What unfortunate timing. If she’d known she was going to die this morning, she would have ordered the pancakes.”
- “‘And how did she score on your psychopath test?’
‘Ninety-six, same as me. That’s why she’s Head of HR'”
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Tags: book review, book reviews, cosy crime, fiction, richard osman, whodunnit
Categories : Books I've Read
Allegiant – by Veronica Roth
21 06 2025This finishes the initial trilogy – there’s a separate fourth book that ties in, which I’ll get to at some point.
I was less keen on this when it started, as while the first two books are told from the perspective of the female protagonist, this one alternates between her and the male protagonist as the narrator, which was quite off putting initially, took a lot of concentration and flicking back to check who was talking to begin with.
In this book we go outside the city that’s been the setting for the first two, and there are shocking revelations about the origin of the city that’s been their home. There’s an awful lot going on with plot, which occasionally got a little confusing, but generally just kept attention, with the second half of the book being really gripping.
The only thing that annoyed me a bit about it was the relationship between the 2 main characters in that so many times it seemed if one of them was upset, it would just be resolved with a passionate kiss – there was a lot about the impact of the kissing, it was a bit grating after a while.
But it’s a trilogy I’ve enjoyed, and I’ll read Four at some point, which, I think, is a series of stories from our male lead’s perspective.
I watched the first 2 films as I reread, but having finished this, it seems the films have now disappeared from iPlayer, which is a shame. Plus this book was meant to be split into two films, but they never made the second, so it’d be left open anyway!
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Tags: book review, book reviews, distopia, divergent, fiction, veronica roth, ya, ya fiction
Categories : Books I've Read
Internet highlights – w/c 15th June 2025
21 06 2025Comments : Leave a Comment »
Categories : The Best of the Internet
Internet highlights – w/c 8th June 2025
14 06 2025Comments : Leave a Comment »
Categories : The Best of the Internet
The Correct Order of Biscuits – by Adam Sharp
11 06 2025I have zero recollection where I discovered this book, I’d have guessed it was on twitter, but I realised yesterday that I wasn’t even following the author, so who knows, but either way, a book of lists can only be a good thing!
I don’t think this was quite everything it could have been, some of the lists got a bit same-y (eg. there were a lot of lists of literal translations of idioms from other languages), but not in a way that stopped it being enjoyable.
A few lists got confusing where they definitely started as lists of things that were real, but then some were clearly made up, but it wasn’t abundantly clear when that changed. I think when I see a list, I like it to be all real or all made up, but not a mixture.
Anyway, overall it was good fun, and here is a list of some of my favourite lists:
- A list of unnecessary, needless, and gratuitous tautologies
- eg. “Nodded her head (what else would she nod?)” and “Past experience”
- A list of contemporary curses for your worst enemy
- eg. “May you forever put your USB in upside down” and “May all your snacks be really healthy”
- A list of fun alternatives for existing words
- eg. “Food library (fridge)” and “Milk racist (lactose intolerant)”
- A list of proposed to meanings for existing words
- eg. “The word flattery should mean flat battery in a car (because it gets you nowhere)”
- A list of the worst types of list
- Most of these were things like “click bait lists”, and “to-do lists”, but also, “colonialists”
- A bonus list of the single best title for a research paper ever
- “In March 2006 Professor Daniel M. Oppenheimer published a paper that argued writers seem more intelligent when using simple words than fancy ones. His paper was titled ‘Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity'”
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Tags: book review, book reviews, lists
Categories : Books I've Read
Wonderful – by Harry Baker
9 06 2025I’ve loved Harry Baker’s stuff on socials for a long time, and really wanted to get one of his books. My brother kindly got me this for my birthday, and I read it in 2 days.
Harry’s interests are based around maths, dinosaurs and German, but he’s also a Christian – while not a perfect overlap, it’s pretty close all things considered!
Now, this IS a poetry book, and as a general rule, I am NOT into poetry. I hated studying it at school, and often find it’s just a bit too fancy. But when I do like it, is when it’s fun, and a lot of these are! A handful are more meaningful, but still in his style and so not too much for me to handle, and I really appreciated them too.
I would say my favourites from this book were: “20 Achievable New Year’s Resolutions”, “An Ode to Postcodes”, “Things I Learnt from Interrailling”, and “Trying”, but I loved nearly all of them, and really had to try hard to not list over half the book in picking favourites!
Big fun, big feelings, loved it. Can’t wait to get his other books.
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Tags: book review, book reviews, harry baker, poetry
Categories : Books I've Read
Internet highlights – f/c 25th May 2025
7 06 2025Comments : Leave a Comment »
Categories : The Best of the Internet
Insurgent – by Veronica Roth
6 06 2025Getting on for a decade ago, I read Divergent, and fully intended on finishing the trilogy…. fast forward and I’m finally getting around to it. I couldn’t remember much at all of the first book, so after a quick re-read of that to refresh my memory, it was time to read book two!
Picking up where the first book left off, in the wake of a vicious attack on one of the factions, where all those attacking were being controlled by a simulation, the city is no longer at peace.
Where the first book had more of a focus on Abnegation and Dauntless factions, this one spent time in the Amity, Candor and Erudite factions, so we got to know each of them a bit more, and in my mind, made them a bit easier to distinguish from each other.
It’s an easy read, and very engaging, more gripping towards the end, and left on a pretty big cliffhanger!
I think these books could have been way more successful if they weren’t coming out in the shadow of The Hunger Games trilogy, but they are good, even if they are another YA dystopian future trilogy, the premise is very different, and I’m not at all sure where the third book will go onto, so I’m starting that with anticipation!
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Tags: book review, book reviews, divergent, fiction, veronica roth
Categories : Books I've Read
40 before 40
29 05 2025Many years ago, around my 29th birthday, I decided to do a 30 before 30 list, and while I did a good chunk of things on there, I didn’t get it all done by a long way, which is fine, but I thought, why not give myself a bit longer for a 40 before 40 list. And yes, some are pinched from the 30 before 30 list!
As I start writing this it’s May 2025, and I think it’ll take a while to come up with 40, but let’s at least start:
- Move from my flat to a house – currently in progress, but feels like it could take ’til I’m 40 to go through
- Visit New York City – if America is still an OK place to visit
- Visit Bletchley Park
- Visit Westminster Abbey – either a service or actually pay to go in
- Visit the Comedy Store in London – ideally to see comedians I like!
- Go and see Austentatious
- Visit the Museum of Brands
- Go to an opera – I reserve the right to not do this, I don’t want to, just feel like I should, having visited a ballet before my 30th
Go to Wimbledon- Go to a cricket match – Hampshire or England
- Go to a rugby match – Bath or England
- Go to Silverstone or another Grand Prix
- Get a ticket to a show court at Wimbledon via camping or ballot
Eat at Mowgli- Learn the countries of the world and be able to complete the Sporcle quiz – PB 86%, currently around 81%
- Learn how to curl my hair
- Learn pi to 40dp – currently at 35
- Continue to slowly and sustainably lose weight until I hit my target – approx a further stone and a bit
- Get back to giving blood
- Finish my four seasons of cross stitch – two are done, two to go
- If I complete #1, get a photobook done of my years in the flat
- Send 40 postcards to people – is this an excuse to buy some cute postcards? maybe…
Stop biting my nails
A couple of these I did before writing the list, but I thought they were significant enough, and achieved after I was 30, to include. And Mowgli was visited since May!
It’s now August 2025 and I think I need to at least get this list up before I complete any more!
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Tags: 40 before 40
Categories : Age challenges
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